The Machine
by FragrantTiger
Summary: In the future, Amestris, as a country who's main export is technology, the Tournament is held annually, founded by the Ouroboros Company. One of the fighters, Edward Elric, stumbles upon a secret that will destroy the company. The Ouroboros find out that he knows and is set on destroying him in the most painful way possible.


**AN: **Hello readers! So I had this idea of a futuristic AU of FMA:B. Take note that I am note that I am not the only one who will write this so, yes. I update really slow, by the way, cause of school, you know homework and all that jazz. Pushing that aside, please enjoy the story!

**IMPORTANT RULES OF THE TOURNAMENT:**

1) Killing or maiming is highly discouraged

2) Only non-organic (part machine) humans are allowed to enter the tournament.

3) Machines are allowed to have weapons installed in their body system, but only for defense during fights.

4) All official fighters are provided with a teammate, except for when it is announced that he/she would be fighting alone.

5) Fighting outside of the ring is prohibited if the involved are caught.

**HISTORY OF THE TOURNAMENT:**

**_By Carla De Guzman_**

CENTRAL CITY, May 24, 3012 – Every two weeks, on Friday, millions of Amestrian families stop what they're doing and turn on their Televisions or laptop. It's like a ritual for us. The Tournament is like religion to us. It's impossible and unthinkable to even MISS a match.

It's actually no surprise that the most watched program in TV would be one involving prosthetics and robot machinery. It is, in fact our country's number 1 export. It was a great advertisement to all the businesses.

Before actually becoming a tournament, the program was a testing practice for the prosthetics and machines. Companies tested their models by using paid fighters to use the machines to full extent. Later, the audience became bigger and companies and small businesses pitted against each other. Soon the owners started betting, and everyone was hooked. Soon another big business bought it, the Homunculi and they built a stadium, brought in more fighters and supported the biggest companies in the whole country.

**LAND SLIDE : ONE DEAD TWO INJURED  
****_by Marie Katigbak_**

RESEMBOOL, August 05, 3007 – Yesterday's unexpected rain has brought not just a one day suspension, but also an unexpected landslide in the small town of Resembool.

The Elrics, who was stranded in the grocery store, bravely set out in the stormy night to get home immediately. Their house was far from the town, so on the way home, tons of soil landed on the Prius driven by their mother. The car was pushed down the mountain and the mother hit her head on the hard ground of the mountain and did not survive. Her two sons in the backseat, were severely injured.

The older Elric, Edward, age 11, had two deep cuts from the class. Bystanders who performed the first aid, a Miss Winry Rockbell, had to tourniquet the right arm and leg. He had a few broken ribs and was rushed to the Hospital shortly after. The younger, Alphonse, age 10, had his spine broken. After extensive care from the Resembool Town Hospital, Alphonse was left in paralysis.

The two orphans, having no other aunts or uncles to go to, was chosen to be adopted by the town's prosthetic mechanic, Pinako Rockbell, who was an investor and an old friend of the children's father.

**THE ELIXIR DRUG**

**_The Medicine Journal_**

JANUARY 25, 2011- Thirty years ago, Dr. Rethaf Moncyu announces the invention of the Elixir Medicine. It is said to enhance the customer's well being and give the body immense speed of regeneration. It is said to heal any ailments in the body including major injuries in almost an instant.

It was called the "Elixir" for it was named after the supposed "Elixir of Life" which was the symbol of immortality. The doctor claims he has found a drug that would make the customer near immortal.

The drug was supposedly disbanded for it was tested on 50 people and more than 43 were dead and seven were missing. The drug was proven to be unusable and dangerous. The government eventually decided to hide and ban the drug for it was called a "weapon of mass murder".

The darkness disappears when thousands of multicolored lights shine down on the blonde, teenage boy standing on one side of the arena. He looks at the crowd and he sees no empty seats. They were all shouting, chanting and some even squealing. Far off behind the stands was a room with large windows, where the people inside could perfectly see the fight. There were a few people inside and as far as the boy in the stadium knew, they were the ones making this tournament possible.

"Brother," a voice said. The blonde turned his head "Are you ready?" He was looking at a seven-foot robot that sort of looked like a suit of armor. It was his little brother. He smiled at him.

"Ready Al. Lets kick some ass." The giant machine and the small boy ran towards the stadiums in high hopes.

These two were the ones known as the "Elric Brothers". Even though, officially, the small teenager, known as Edward, was the official fighter, he was almost always fighting with his brother.

Edward was the youngest official fighter, with two months until he'll be sixteen, yet he was one of the best. For the past two years, he had won many battles and he eventually became known as the "Fullmetal" for he didn't hide his machine right arm and left leg in fake skin mesh.

"ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE?" Shouted the referee. Thousands of fans shouted at the top of their lungs. "On this corner, fighting for the Rockbell Mechanics Shop in Resembool, is Fullmetal and his brother Alphonse!" a wave of cheers and whistles come through the audience and brothers wave at them.

For the elimination round, all fighters fought only automatons made by any of the opposing teams. After that, the fought each other and for the finals they had to fight but with unfavorable conditions. In other word, they are set up to loose.

The referee went near to us, and said "No machines that turn other machines off okay?" we nodded and he started the game.

The automaton struck Ed since Al was only there if Ed was having a hard time. It tried to get a punch at Ed's stomach, but Ed was fast. He grabbed his hand the robot was thrown off Ed's shoulders. It landed on its bum and in its chest said "Mission one: Hand to Hand completed."

The robot stood up again and turned its hand into a sword. "Next Challenge." Now Ed's prosthetics originally had a blade inside, but after a small fight with the gentleman who called him small, he busted his sword. Now all he had was a spare knife he bought in case times like these happened, which wasn't rare.

The human like machine charged at Edward and tried to cut off his head. He ducked down and kicked at its feet. It fell down, but quickly stood up again. Ed kicked up to hit the robot's chin, but it grabbed his leg and threw him to the side of the ring.

"GODDAMMIT that fucking HURT!" He ran back to the robot and it tried to hit Ed's head, but he blocked it with his prosthetic arm. Ed grabbed his knife and stabbed the small chink in the middle of its hand and arm, rendering the arm useless. The machine was now only using the left hand. It tried to strike from the side, but Ed again used his prosthetic to block. Using his left arm, he jabbed towards the head, but the machine parried his hand away. It retracted its sword from Ed's hand and jabbed straight. Ed sidestepped and saw an opportunity, when he stepped aside he used his knife to fill the gap between the robot's sword and its hand, he pushed the knife towards the sword and the robot was forced to let go. Ed had successfully disarmed the robot.

"Disarming, complete. Hand to hand combat, start now." It said. He tried to punch its face, but the robot grabbed his hand and judo-flipped him to the ground. _Two fucking times I hit my back. Its shocking that my spine is still intact._ He thought. It was hard to get up, but he had only five seconds, so he forced himself to stand. The robot was on the other side of the ring, which was far enough for what Edward was planning.

They charged at each other and at the last moment, Edward jumped and his feet landed on the robot's shoulders. Before it could process anything, Edward locked his legs around its neck, and let the top half of his body fall, and his legs carrying the machine's body. When Ed was lying on the ground, he looked back and saw that the robot's neck was detached from its body. Edward had won.

"The Full metal wins!" He stood up and looked at the thousands of cheering fans. He waved at them and left the stage. As he walked down, Alphonse ran up to him.

"That was a good fight, brother. I have to wonder, though, what happened to the blade Winry installed in your prosthetics?" Alphonse asked, even though he knew very well what the answer was.

Edward turned to face his younger brother. "You know that time we fought that weird man in the alleyway?" His brother nodded. "Well, I told you that my automail was alright, remember?" Al, as Ed called him, nodded again. "Well it sort of wasn't. The blade wasn't working anymore."

"Winry's going to kill you! She told you to be careful with it, right?!" Al scolded.

"She's not going to know anyway, she's all the way back in Resembool with Granny. I doubt that they would watch the preliminaries anyway!" He said as he continued to walk towards the locker area.

"I'm not really sure about that bro-" Al's sentence was cut off by a loud sound that seemed like a growl from the locker area. She wore a luminescent jumpsuit, gigantic gloves, a green bandanna and a tool belt. It was obvious that this girl was The Full metal's mechanic.

"No way, don't tell me. SHE'S HERE?!" A wave of terror ran through Edward's body as a familiar blonde teenager stomped her way towards him.

"EDWARD ELRIC YOU BIG BONEHEAD!" She shouted. The boy turned to Al for help, but he, too was at a loss of what to do. The girl came up to him, grabbed his black shirt and scowled. "WHY DO YOU SEEM TO HAVE THE TALENT OF GETTING MY AUTOMAIL BROKEN? HUH?"

"ITS NOT MY FAULT! I'M A FIGHTER! MY PROSTHETICS GETS BROKEN ALL THE TIME!" He shouted back.

"DO YOU THINK I'M A DITZ? I saw that you didn't use the blade I added to your arm. You used a knife instead. I know that knife well enough to know that YOU ONLY USE IT WHEN YOU BREAK YOUR ARM YOU IDIOT!" She reached behind her and grabbed her wrench and pointed it at his face. "I have half a mind to give you a concussion with this wrench. The only thing that is stopping me is the fact that there will be the hospital bills to pay for when you get confined. Now come on. I'll fix it for you already." She turned and headed to the locker room. The threat was more or less empty, but Edward was still scared half to death.

Meanwhile, Al was watching it all with a sort-of knowing smile in his face.

"So what brings you here, Winry?" Ed said as he lay in his underwear, and his arm out. Winry was to his left and was almost done adjusting the blade. "Aren't you and Granny to busy with orders to come watch the preliminaries?" Alphonse added, sitting on the right side of Ed.

"Well, we had a very important customer here in Central and he wanted us to go here. Of course we charged him for the travel fee, but that's beside the point. His house was near here, so I decided to watch a match, and lo and behold, you were there with your broken prosthetic, which you didn't tell your mechanic about for SOME, WEIRD, REASON." At the last three words, She connected Ed's nerves as tightly as she could.

"OUCH! Mother—GEEZ WINRY COULD YOU KINDLY GIVE ME A WARNING?" Ed shouted at her.

"I'LL GIVE YOU A WARNING THE DAY YOU CALL US WHEN YOU BREAK YOUR AUTOMAIL." She argued.

"How can I when you keep SHOUTING AT ME!" And they went on and on, shouting both at the same time, Al wasn't even sure that they heard each other. Soon, they were ready to wring each other's necks, which was not a really great idea.

"Okay, okay, guys, break it up. The prosthetic is fixed, and everything's fine. Alright?" Al said lightly pushing them down back to their seats. They were still glaring at each other.

Then two other people stepped into the room. The first one was an almost thirty-year old man with black hair and dark brown eyes. He had a smirk on his face that annoyed Ed even more. Beside him was a younger looking woman with blonde hair and piercing brown eyes. Many knew the man as the Hero of Ishval. Roy Mustang was his real name and he, too, was a fighter in the tournament. The woman beside him was his partner, Riza Hawkeye, who was said to have amazing skills with different types of firearms.

"Well if it isn't Full metal. I thought you'd be gone by now, considering there's no use hanging around here anymore." Roy asked.

"I was getting my machine repaired. How'd your fight go? Is it wrong to hope that you actually didn't get through this time?" Ed said, and received a hit on the back of his head by his brother. "Seriously Ed, why don't you try to be more polite?"

"No its fine, Alphonse. I'm glad you asked Edward. My fight did go very well. I didn't get hit on my back as many times as you did, if that's what you're asking. My, my, now that I think about it, all that times you got hit, won't it stunt your growth even more?" He snickered.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A MICRO SIZED FLEA WHICH YOU'D NEED A MICROSCOPE TO SEE?!" Edward shouted. "Calm down brother, nobody said that." Alphonse said.

Meanwhile on the other side of the room, Riza and Winry were chatting away.

"Nice to see you again, Miss Hawkeye!" Winry said and waved at her.

"Hello, Miss Rockbell, it's been a long time! I see you've gotten your ears pierced. It looks nice on you." Riza smiled. "Yes, thank you. Your hair is so pretty now, Miss Riza! You've kept it long!" Winry said. "Thank you Winry, I wasn't sure if I'd keep my hair like this, but if you say that I look decent with it." They both laughed. "Well, it was a pleasure seeing you again, Miss Rockbell and the Elric brothers, but Roy and I have to go now. He has an appointment in about five minutes he has to rush. Good bye!" and they both briskly walked away, talking to each other.

After they left, Ed started to dress up and Winry started to fix her things. There was silence, but it wasn't awkward. It was just like everyone was thinking about different things.

Alphonse, who found this very awkward, broke the silence. "So Winry what do you plan to do after heading out from the stadium?" She finished packing up and smiled at Alphonse "Well, I was thinking about staying in a hotel for one night, probably visit you in the hospital, then head back home to Granny."

Edward grabbed his red jacket and said "Well, me and Al were both planning to head to the hospital now, would you like to come with?" He said. He straightened his black jeans and shirt, and started to wear his combat boots.

"Oh, okay sure! If its not a bother to both of you." Winry said. "Nah, its okay. We like it when you're with us." Edward slipped then blushed "Of course, because you're family and who wouldn't want family to go with them, r-right?"

Winry, who looked a little disappointed said "Uh- yeah. Of course."

St. Luke's hospital was two blocks away, and the three of them decided to walk. On the way, Edward checked his phone. He logged on to his twitter and checked what the people were saying about them.

"What are you looking at, Ed?" Al peaked over his shoulder and saw his feed. "Oh look what someone said! '_So disappointed Alphonse didn't fight this time. I kind of miss the Elric Brother dynamic. HAHAHA'_ You totally were, weren't you?" Al laughed.

"Shut up Al! I know how to fight without the blade in my hand!" Edward punched his side playfully and laughed with him.

"Obviously because you've broken your automail WAY too many times!" She said and looked at his phone too. "Oh look at this! _'Better get your machine fixed, Edward! Or else Al would be fighting all your fights!'_ See, even you fans agree you should take care of your arm!"

"Geez, guys, why are all of you reading the bad tweets? You know more than a hundred tweeted good things about me! Look '_OMG Full Metal, you're such a prince, ay papi!' _Ha, I have fan girls" He gloated.

"Yeah, but look at this one. '_Could barely see a thing in the stadium, even with all the seated heads, you still can't see Full Metal. HAHA what a shorty!' _" Alphonse and Winry laughed so hard, they held each other for support.

"WHY THAT BASTARD. I'LL HUNT HIM DOWN AND RIP HIM TO SHREDS! THEN WE'LL SEE WHOS THE PIPSQUEAK WHO'S AS SMALL AS A HAMSTER!" Ed shouted to almost no one.

He stuffed his phone back into his jacket pocket and stomped grumpily all the way to the hospital, with Winry and Al laughing behind him.

When the three entered the room, they saw Alphonse's paralyzed body lying on the bed. The nurse beside him started to disconnect the wires in Al's human head to the machine that sent the brainwaves to the machine. The robot immediately shut down. The human Alphonse woke up and smiled at them. He turned to the nurse.

"Thank you, Nurse Jen, you may go" Alphonse nodded to her and she left. "How's your body, Al?" Ed asked.

"Still paralyzed, you know, nothing out of the blue." He said. "Did you find out anything about the Elixir medicine?" Ed nodded. "There's one man down in Lior where he claims that his works, so we'll check it out tomorrow." He said.

"Okay, sure." Al said. The two were never comfortable talking about the subject while Al was in the machine. It just never seemed very real. He looked out the large windows down in the city.

"Alphonse, you should let one of the nurses cut your hair. Its starting to get long" Winry said.

"Stop nagging him, Winry! So what if he wants to keep his hair long? Its his choice!" Ed scolded. "Because, Ed, I don't think Al want his hair to be unhealthy, LIKE YOURS!" Winry snapped.

"Why in the world would you like to keep your hair healthy? IT'S A BUNCH OF DEAD CELLS THAT RESTS ON YOUR HEAD! Keeping it healthy is just plain ridiculous!" Ed shouted.

"Whatever, Ed. Its your decision Al." Winry said. "Okay Winry, I 'll ask the nurses tomorrow." Winry smiled smugly back at Ed who scowled at her back.

Alphonse giggled and said "Its getting pretty late, brother. You should go back to the apartment so you can rest. I'm pretty tired myself" For some reason, Alphonse always seemed to be tired even though he was paralyzed. The reason, as the doctors said, was that it was one of the side effects of his using the mobile machine. It tired him out, so Ed only got to talk to him personally for a few minutes a day.

"Okay Al, I'll pick you up tomorrow." He said as he and Winry walked out. He stopped on the doorway and looked back at Al. "Don't give up, brother. We'll get us back out normal lives."

Alphonse smiled and closed his eyes to sleep again. Edward closed the lights and started to walk out of the room, leaving Al and


End file.
